Name That Drama: Murders, slackers, and (more) diseases

…though maybe “diseases” doesn’t have to be specified as an identifier, in that they are in so many dramas as a baseline plot element. Sad but true?

Here is a new batch of puzzlers for you to identify: Name That Drama, go!

asmaa asks:

This drama isn’t old at all, it was probably made a few years back. It had a lot of main characters in it, and included some type of murder. They went to this abandoned town full of old people, and it had someone from Standby, though I’m not sure who. It was really funny, and I remember loving it. Can you please help me?

I love that it had “someone” from Standby but the identity remains fuzzy. Are the actors all similar, or did that show have a way of blurring everyone’s individuality into a big blob of blandness? Questions to ponder.

I feel like I’ve seen the movie enz describes, but can’t put my finger on it either:

Reading your Name That Drama, I thought of a movie whose name I have forgotten. I watched this on a plane back from Hong Kong and laughed pretty much the whole movie.

The premise is that of a rich guy who keeps failing at the university year after year deliberately because he is there just to have fun and meet girls.

The girl was a uni-mate who went on to become a bad ass prosecutor who had actually fallen in love with him in uni when he saved her from drowning in a river. She then forces her way into his life and marries him.

Does it ring a bell? I really wanna watch this again but I can’t unless I get the title. I think the pic on the DVD shows a boxing ring with the girl in it, but am not so sure.

Thanks and hoping you all can help me out here. 🙂

yurika wonders:

I got a question about a drama I watch a couple years ago. It’s about a girl who works as a news anchor/reporter. The girl broke up with her boyfriend and has a new boyfriend. Unfortunately, the girl was diagnosed with leukemia but didn’t tell her new boyfriend. And I’m pretty sure that it’s not Autumn In My Heart.

One scene I remember the most is when the girl goes kneeling in church and says: why did this disease choose me?

Isn’t it hilarious how every drama about leukemia automatically makes you think of Autumn in My Heart? Also sibling fauxcest? That, my friends, is what we call a legacy.

Necie asks:

I watched this Korean drama a while back but I am unable to remember the name, please help!

The drama starts with a woman calling into a radio station and singing for her husband with a baby (sister-in-law’s child) strapped to her back. The scene cuts to her husband at work abruptly turning off the radio in disgust. Husband and family dislike the wife and treat her badly. Wife is housewife supreme (cooks, cleans, takes verbal abuse 🙁 …) The family wanted the son to marry another lady he was seeing (before the marriage) while fooling around with the wife, so they disrespect her each time she comes around and the husband allows it.

Wife ends up falling in love with second lead guy, after the family blames her for not paying attention to sister-in-law’s child and he falls over the balcony breaking some bones. Lover ends up getting brain tumor (cancer?) and tries to hide it. Guy tries to leave (break up) the woman because he doesn’t want her to know. Wife leaves husband and her two kids to be with the guy.

I remember in the end episodes the wife and lover are in a cabin in winter and she is taking care of him. Her husband comes to convince her again that he has changed and loves her but she decides to stay with her lover. The lover dies in the cabin and the wife does not return to family.

Good luck naming those dramas! And if you’ve got more vague drama memories plaguing you, send them in. Thanks for playing!

February 24, 2013 at 12:08 PM

Yes, Zoe got Necie's question answered properly however, is #4 not the third drama. It can be found on Crunchyroll under the name of December Fever, but at d-addicts they call it Tropical Nights in December. The Korean name of the drama is: 12월의 열대야 / 12 Wolui Yeoldaeya

March 11, 2013 at 1:16 PM

February 23, 2013 at 1:11 PM

UNREGISTERED

Hi,
To asmaa: I haven't seen it, but it sounds like the description for Harvest Villa, with Shin Ha Kyun. It was on tvN in 2010, so not too long ago.
Sorry I have no idea regarding the rest of the requests. Good luck!

February 23, 2013 at 1:23 PM

UNREGISTERED

I'm glad the wife didn't go back, she needed to learn how to stand on her own two feet and be more than a housewife. The family spent so much time abusing her instead of educating her, she was more than capable of being the wife they wished she could be.

February 23, 2013 at 2:27 PM

UNREGISTERED

I remember watching this when I was first starting to watch dramas (and thus before my family realized not to be surprised at me sobbing front of the computer screen). I was sobbing when the family walked in the door trying to sympathize with me and thinking something dreadful had really happened, and I kept saying "go away, I need to watch my drama!"

I, too, am SOOOO glad that she did not go back to her husband. That whole family was a nightmare to her.

February 23, 2013 at 1:19 PM

UNREGISTERED

Hmmm... Necie's request sounds suspiciously like "What's Love" with Choi Min Soo and Ha Hee Ra. But argh my brain has locked up with any other details since that show aired in the early 1990s! Off to research the rest!!

February 23, 2013 at 1:37 PM

February 23, 2013 at 1:50 PM

UNREGISTERED

Hey guys, can you guys help me, it is a old drama.

Has a girl that is from country and goes to the city live in the house of the main guy...

he is a spoiled rich brat and she is always nagging at him, I also remember that his cousin betrays him and takes all he has, his money and house and all and the main girl helps him stand back again...

February 24, 2013 at 5:59 AM

UNREGISTERED

Oh wow! That was the drama that made me liked both Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk. But after Jang Nara sort of went on to develop overseas and I didn't really watch any of her Chinese dramas....Glad to see her doing well in the latest drama, School 2013 which was awesome =)

February 23, 2013 at 5:45 PM

February 23, 2013 at 2:53 PM

UNREGISTERED

it IS sad love story, sad love song, sad sonata... (whichever name u please, it has a lot of them!)
only that u mistook the reason the girl thought his lover was dead, it was the second female lead's villainy, not the second male's! he was a good guy! ^^
it was TOO makjang, yeah... but honestly, i LOVED it back then... although the ending... [sigh]

February 23, 2013 at 2:31 PM

UNREGISTERED

I really like this new feature. I love hearing about dramas that people are fond of but can't remember and hearing about the dramas (correct answers or not) that people suggest. Off to find Successful Story of a Bright Girl.

February 24, 2013 at 4:00 AM

February 23, 2013 at 2:59 PM

UNREGISTERED

about yurikas drama,... well i KNOW it must not be lovers in harvard, but why do i keep remembering it?! the girl was a doctor there, and she did break up, and had a disease for sure, and i remember a scene in a church... but u know, she was a DOCTOR! sry ;)

February 23, 2013 at 4:33 PM

UNREGISTERED

EEEKS!!! Thanks everyone's !! It IS Oh My God!! Hehehehhe. Soooo happy. Those days, I didn't know anything about Korean dramas but I like watching foreign movies and checked that one out on the plane. I thought the guy's expression was hilarious!

February 23, 2013 at 6:45 PM

UNREGISTERED

I don't know, maybe because kdramas are for ''family'' watch it, so hot kisses scenes or bed scenes make them not comfortable watching it. If you watch a Kmovie things are waaaay different, hot kiss scenes and bex scenes... so yeah.

February 23, 2013 at 7:20 PM

UNREGISTERED

Maybe I can join in on the fun?

I watched 2-3 episodes of a k-drama in China around July or August 2008, so I'm guessing it was made at least 5 or 6 years ago.

In the beginning-middle of the drama, the female lead goes on a trip with her boyfriend and decides to break up with him because of parental opposition. I distinctly remember her deleting all pictures of him on her phone/camera.

And in one of the subplots, some guy (maybe the female lead's brother?) has just come back from army duty and is working at a supermarket. Hijinks happen between him and a girl-next-door -- I think at one point, he stays overnight (nothing happens) and the girl accidentally runs in on him taking a shower in the morning ...

From what I remember, this might have been a weekend/family-type drama, although I'm not really sure ...

February 24, 2013 at 3:49 AM

UNREGISTERED

Could be Lee Dong Wook's "Precious Family" except for the part he stays overnight and takes a shower....can't recall any shower scenes at all in that drama, and besides, he was in love with his childhood sweetheart and for the life of me, I don't recall him working in a supermarket. I'm really bad at this, but this is so fun I had to join in LOL

February 23, 2013 at 10:14 PM

UNREGISTERED

Hey guys! I'm looking for a drama/movie from the early 2000s (I think...). The heroine is rich and nice, and her best friend is poor. In the beginning they're still in high school, and it was against the rules to have a job or something. But the poor best friend ended up taking a job singing at a night club and got busted by a bunch of her school teachers. Then the heroine ends up becoming poor because the best friend's dad did something..that's all I remember up to!

So please drop any names if you think you know what drama/movie I'm talking about! Thanks!!

February 23, 2013 at 10:37 PM

UNREGISTERED

When I read no. 1, I immediately thought of Once Upon a Time in Saengchori. & reading the comments, I think that's definitely it. The drama is so underrated(being aired in a cable channel) but it's awesome!

February 23, 2013 at 11:17 PM

February 23, 2013 at 11:20 PM

UNREGISTERED

Can I have some help too?

It is a science fiction time travel JDrama. My guess is it was made late 1990's as the climax came at Y2K. Multiple people end up being thrown back in time while they are watching a foreign film. They change things in the past but keep looping back at midnight 2000. Son deals with his mother's death and his anger at his father and romance with his girlfriend.

February 23, 2013 at 11:57 PM

February 24, 2013 at 12:12 AM

UNREGISTERED

i really enjoy this kind of game haha!
btw, i also remember this korean comedy drama about a guy came from somewhere (i forgot) and when he comes back, he finds a family which is actually disguising or acting to be his family. please help!! TT..TT

February 24, 2013 at 12:19 AM

UNREGISTERED

I have a korean song that I can't remember the name of. I dont know if this is the best place to post , but what the heck, its really bugging me :(

It's by the male singer and its kinda ballad-y. The music video is about a guy who finds this girl by the beach and he takes her home. But she doesn't know how to normal "human" things. He teaches her and they fall in love (naturally). Turns out in the end that shes a mermaid and she returns back to the sea, even though she loves him. I think its based on a korean folk tale

February 24, 2013 at 2:19 AM

UNREGISTERED

For some reason, I think this is one of the best segments ever on Dramabeans. Even if I've never guessed anything correctly yet, it's really fun reading through the comments and knowing about all these bizarre kdramas that I've never heard of before!

February 24, 2013 at 2:37 AM

UNREGISTERED

I forgot to add, I think the reason why I find these discussions awesome is because if you read the descriptions from a kdrama-outsider point of view, you'll definitely end up with a bewildered expression and you'd be like, "WHAT? Are you serious right now?"

Kdramas really have such odd storylines with everyone getting sick, and chaebols falling for maids, and siblings turning out to be fake. These characters are the kinds of people I will probably never ever get to meet personally. It's both weird and fascinating. I love it.

February 24, 2013 at 9:23 AM

UNREGISTERED

Just a random comment, i watched first couple of eps of "a wife's credentials" and gave it up cuz it seemed to me like i'd be spending 16 eps watching 2 people having an affair...how wrong I was! Thanks for everyone who's always giving props to that drama cuz you convinced me to finish it...what a ride!

February 24, 2013 at 9:49 PM

February 25, 2013 at 2:03 AM

UNREGISTERED

This is such a nice feature! O:

Hoping you guys could help me out - I remember watching this 3 part k-drama dubbed in Chinese a long time ago, and can't seem to remember what it was called or anyone who was in it. It was about a girl who had two sisters (their names were like sequence somehow) and at the beginning of the drama she was about to marry her boyfriend because they were having a baby. She falls down the stairs (I think?) and miscarries, and ends up not marrying him. She also has a good friend who is totally in love with her. Later she marries into a rich family, and when she gets pregnant the family discovers she'd been engaged/pregnant before and lots of drama ensues. She ends up planning to run away with the friend who is in love with her, but the husband's sister who is in love with him ODs on pills to make sure it doesn't happen. I don't really remember what happens after that, but in the end I think she leaves her husband or something and at the very very end he somehow randomly encounters her and their daughter again somewhere.

Please let me know if anyone has any idea what it might be called, thanks! : )

February 25, 2013 at 3:34 PM

February 25, 2013 at 6:47 PM

UNREGISTERED

I have one to add. I watched it about a year ago, but it seems older (this past year was spent catching up on all kinds of dramas). Here is the clue:

The main part I remember was the OTP would go to the movies and the girl would find hidden notes. Seems like it was the first time she ever went to the movies, cause when the second lead took her, she automatically looked for the note in the popcorn and was disappointed not to find one.

March 4, 2013 at 7:43 PM

UNREGISTERED

I'm currently hunting for a the name of a particular Japanese Television Drama about this woman who likes to eat dried squid and drink root beer at night, and she does live in a traditional japanese home with like a pond/pool in her house, and lives with this man. I'm sorry if the details are really vague, because I don't remember much from it. I came out a couple years ago, or something. Please help me, thank you very much...

March 5, 2013 at 2:44 PM

UNREGISTERED

sounds like hotaru no hikari starring ayase haruka
it has 2 seasons, i only watched the 1st one and it was fun
the female lead character is an office girl but when she comes back from home she turns into a bum and lazy girl. for whatever reason, her boss came to live in her house and the two of them lived together but work in the same office

March 29, 2013 at 5:21 PM

UNREGISTERED

Hey guys
I wanted to find this drama dated back awhile ago
It somewhat sound like no.3
The lead girl is a TV newsreporter who broke up with her boyfriend (ithink he's a dentist) Cuzco he cheated on her.
Then she went to this doctor for check up and found out that he's her childhood friend/ classmate..
I don't know how the rest goes because I didn't get to finish it
Help me with the title of this drama!!!!!

July 4, 2013 at 4:42 AM

August 23, 2013 at 11:20 PM

UNREGISTERED

I watched this drama last year, and I'm trying to remember its name but I can't..:(

In the drama there are two rich guys (I think they were brothers) like a girl whose not really rich. The main guy gets her number through a competition. She works at a mall. Later the guy has an accident and breaks he's leg, and makes the girl come do he's housework. Towards the end the main guy is diagnosed with a disease and does not have much time left. But in the end he doesn't die. He recovers and gets back with the girl. Please help. I really need to know the name of this series..